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The Queen ElizabethFor many years the largest ship in the world.
The Queen Elizabeth was designed to provide a fast, regular, luxurious transatlantic crossing with her sister ship the Queen Mary but when she was completed, World War 2 had already started. She was painted grey and her maiden voyage was cancelled.
Sitting in the Clyde she was at great risk from German bombers and also an inconvenience since her berth was urgently needed for the construction of warships. In complete secrecy she set sail for New York at full speed, without any sea trials and with most of her launch gear still attached to her hull. Even the captain did not know the destination for his new ship until he opened the sealed envelope he had been given. She arrived in New York 4 days later. She sat there from March to November of 1940 then sailed to Singapore to be fitted out as a troopship. Video of the Queen Elizabeth arriving in New York in 1945 with 15,000 troops on board
When the war was over, the Queens had carried over a million troops, many of which had then to be taken home - often along with their new brides! The Queen Elizabeth finally was completed with her luxury fittings and entered scheduled service with Cunard for the first time in March 1946, 6 years after her first secret trip to New York. During the war she had carried over 750,000 troops and travelled 500,000 miles. She was decommissioned along with the Queen Mary when the competition from Air-travel became too fierce. She was bought by a Hong Kong businessman who intended to turn her into a floating University - the Seawise University. Sadly, though, an arsenist had other ideas and a fire started on the 9th of January 1972 in various parts of the ship.
Eventually she rolled onto her side in Hong Kong Harbour where she continued to burn for over a week. Queen Elizabeth Internet Links |
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